Magdalena Kania-Lundholm

Ideology, power and inclusion: using the critical perspective to study how older ICT users make sense of digitisation

Critical Internet and media scholarship has primarily focused on contributing to theoretical debates within the field of media and communications but few empirical studies have applied this theoretical approach. This article uses data on older active ICT users’ understandings of digitisation. It draws inspiration from Boltanski’s pragmatist sociology of critique and the notion that people’s own take on their situation are fruitful sources of information in the quest for emancipation. It employs the notions of ideology, power and inclusion – which are central to critical scholarship – to make sense of older active ICT users’ understandings of digitisation. In doing so, it explores the fruitfulness of the critical lens for studies of ICT users while bringing attention to older active ICT users’ critical capacities.

Beyond the nation-state : Polish national identity and cultural intimacy online

ABSTRACT This article analyses the debate on ‘new patriotism’ in a Polish online discussion forum. We study the ways in which national identity is constructed in this setting. Digital communication contributes further to expanding discourse on national identities beyond nation-state borders. We analyse close to 6000 posts from a large Polish Internet discussion forum through the methods of quantitative concept mapping and qualitative close readings. Our results show that patriotism is negotiated beyond strictly national frameworks. It is not merely a question of national interest as it also connects people through a process of establishing and maintaining of cultural intimacy.